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Disabled boat towing.......recommended method

I

Indian_Lake_Bum

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Orchard Island on Indian Lake, OH
Since we have joined the USFBA and towing disabled boats is what we do.....nothing out of the ordinary for us. I'm curious as to the proper hook up on our boat of the towing bridle. Should I hook it to the rear of the toons to the eyes welded on the back? Hook to the rear cleats on both sides? Hook up to the 2 u-bolts just in front of the motor on the transom?

My biggest concern of hooking to the u-bolts in front of the motor is actually rubbing on the motor while towing as they are pretty close together and not very far apart. Could I route the rope from the u bolts out around the bottom legs of the tow bar (right at the deck level) then out to the boat in tow?

We are using a bridle like this one:

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Gladiator-Heavy-Duty-Tow-Harness-12&i=44140
 
I'm very interested to see what others have to say. I carry that same bridle but I'm to the point that I think I'll just use my ski pylon when/if I need to tow another boat. Bennington saying the U bolts should not be used for tubing makes my wonder why they'd be any better for towing. Plus the bad position they are in on boats like ours with motor rub is a problem. I can't imagine that the stress on the ski pylon or ski tow bar could be any worse gently towing a disabled boat as it would pulling a skier out of the water or swinging a tube around. 
 
I have only towed from my ski pylon. ..not sure that is an option for you
 
I've only used the ski tow bar and never had a problem. And I go slow.
 
I had to quickly help a stranded boat one time before the wind blew it into a rock wall. I went in nose first, threw them a line and had them tie it to their bow cleat and a guy in my boat simply held onto our end of the line while I pulled them away from the wall with my boat in reverse. Once we were far enough from the wall, we walked our end of the line around to the back of the boat as I turned the boat around and faced the other direction. We then tied it to the ski bar and pulled them a mile or so to the dock.

Point is, the guy in my boat was able to stand and hold the end of the line as I towed the other boat away from the wall. Can you imagine how hard it would be to hold the end of a line with a tuber going 20 mph??? Like Carl said, if you go slow, there's not much force on the tow line. The other boat was an 8 or 9 passenger ski boat. Maybe a 16 footer or so.

Just go slow, as in little to no-wake speed. Believe me, the other boat won't complain about you going slow. And use some common sense.

I would be concerned in rough water where the line could go slack and then suddenly snap tight. That could put a lot of stress on your boat even if you are going slow. We have a tubing line that has a 4 foot bungee section in it that absorbs a lot of shock. You might get one of those, especially if you pull tubes.
 
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We might have to look into that bungee line and add that to our tube towing arsenal of goodies.

As far as the yellow bridle for towing he's how I thought about routing from the u-bolts to out and around the motor.....sorry for the crude drawing.

DSCN1577edit_zpsy2titwrn.jpg
 
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